Labrador’s riches of power and minerals

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32966, 12 July 1972, Page 12

Labrador’s riches of power and minerals

TORONTO, July 11. When the French explorer, Jacques Cartier, landed on North America’s Atlantic shore more than 31 centuries ago and took a look Labrador as nothing but around, he described “stones and rocks . . . moss and stunted wood.” What he could not know was that the rocks and moss concealed one of the world’s largest iron ore fields and that Labrador’s rivers would one day feed the biggest singlesite hydro-electric power project in the Western hemisphere. The Canadian Prime Minister (Mr Pierre Trudeau) took note of Cartier’s mistaken assessment when he inaugurated the $950 million Churchill Falls power project in mid-June. Mr Trudeau described it as the largest construction job undertaken in Canada—bigger than the St Lawrence Seaway of the continentspanning Canadian Pacific Railway. He said that it was evidence that man could employ the resources of the world without causing harm to the environment or destroying the life style of others. Named for Sir Winston Churchill, who had a hand in the negotiations that led to financing the power development, Churchill Falls draws water from an area of 35,662 square miles—larger than Ireland and more than threequarters the size of New Zealand’s North Island. Construction involved rerouting the Churchill River above the 245-foot-high falls, which are 60 feet higher than Niagara Falls. The project will have a nominal installed capacity of 5.2 million kilowatts or seven million horsepower in 11 units of 475,000 kilowatts each. It will produce about 34,500 million kilowatt hours a year—equivalent to 22 per cent of all the hydro-electric power generated in Canada in 1969. Delivery of power began last December when the first two turbine-generator units went into service. By the beginning of July two more units were in operation and by September, 1975, well ahead of schedule, all 11 generating units will be operating. Although the site is in Labrador, a 113,000-square-mile mainland region of the province of Newfoundland, most of the power will be

purchased by neighbouring Quebec province. About $l3 million in power sales are projected for this year. After churning through the penstocks and generating units of the powerhouse at the falls, the water of the river, together with water from other nearby lakes and rivers, re-enters the Churchill River, eventually to be harnessed again when'the lower Churchill project is built.

That will be at Gull Island, 130 miles downstream from Churchill Falls, and it is expected to provide an additional 1.8 million kilowatts or 2.4 million horsepower of installed capacity. Construction at Churchill Falls began in 1967 after being delayed for years by haggling between Newfoundland and Quebec over price. Quebec tried to use Churchill Falls as a bargaining lever in hopes of forcing Newfoundland to reopen talks about the Quebec-Labrador boundary. The line was drawn by a 1927 Imperial Privy Coun-

icil ruling but Quebec has 'never accepted it. i Mr Joseph Smallwood, who led Newfoundland into confederation with Canada in 1949, served as Premier i until his Liberal Party was ) defeated in a provincial elecition this year, had long 'dreamed of harnessing the majestic river. He knew that if the vast amounts of electricity were to be sold the most convenient customer would be industrial Quebec. But he wasn’t going to let the boundary dispute become a part of negotiations. In the early 19505, Sir Winston Churchill arranged a meeting between Mr Smallwood and Baron Edmund de Rothschild. That led to formation of the British Newfoundland Corp., which was given rights to explore 60,000 square miles of Labrador crown land while developing its power resources. Exploration turned up a huge iron ore field—3ooo million tons of rich deposits at Wabush Lake— and such other minerals as uranium, zinc, lead, copper, magnetite, titanium, nickel, asbestos, and limestone. Rothschild, whose London financial house is part of the

s consortium exploiting the j Labrador resources, has said ,'the wilderness territory will jibe as important to the family i firm in the twentieth century ria* the Suez Canal was in the s i nineteenth. -j But it may be some time ( before that prediction comes ; I true. The consortium had a : • net loss of more than s2m fllast year. 1 When the Churchill Falls • project was launched five 1 years ago it was Mr Small- ’ wood who presided, turning ; a sod with a silver shovel and • blowing the top off a nearby mountain with a dynamite ■ charge. 1 At that time he took pains • to emphasise Newfoundland’s : sovereignty over Labrador. ■ saying: “This is our land. • This is our province. This is > our river. This is our water- ! fall. And we shall for ever Imake sure that it shall be developed primarily for us.’’ Mr Smallwood was not present at the inauguration, 1 having gone to Europe to do 1 research for a history of > Newfoundland. But his 1 pledge never to surrender ■ Labrador seemed safe. The ’ premier. Mr Robert Bourassa, ■ of Quebec, who attended the ceremony, was careful not to bring up the boundary dis1 pute.